As President Obama neared the end of his term, his administration pushed to finalize stringent fuel economy rules that are estimated to add $2000 to the cost of a vehicle. According to an article in the Detroit News (Jan. 13, 2017), the new rules would require automakers to produce car and truck fleets to “average around 50 mpg by 2025, which by law were originally set to be reviewed for their feasibility by April 2018.” In mid-March, President Trump ordered a “tough review” of those Obama-era fuel economy standards. Detroit automakers and some foreign vehicle manufacturers have lobbied the Trump administration to roll back these tough Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards as “unrealistic.”

But what will happen is anybody’s guess. Publicly, few automakers are saying anything about their desire to reduce these stringent rules. As for the auto suppliers, they’re moving ahead with their lightweighting technology developments as if the standards will remain in place.

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